Shloka 17
Qualities of the Wise — Chanakya Niti
किं जातैर्बहुभिः पुत्रैः शोकसन्तापकारकैः ।
वरमेकः कुलालम्बी यत्र विश्राम्यते कुलम् ॥
kiṁ jātair bahubhiḥ putraiḥ śokasantāpakārakaiḥ |
varam ekaḥ kulālambī yatra viśrāmyate kulam ||
What use are many sons if they bring only grief and distress? Better one who upholds the family, in whom the household finds rest and security.
FAQs
In nīti (didactic) literature associated with early and medieval Sanskrit traditions, household continuity and the stability of the kula (lineage/extended family) are recurrent concerns. The verse reflects a social milieu in which sons are conventionally framed as key agents of familial support, ritual continuity, and economic security; it contrasts numerical abundance with functional reliability.
The verse frames “support” through the term kulālambī (“a prop/support of the family”), implying a person whose conduct and capacity reduce śoka and santāpa (grief and distress) for the household. The emphasis is on outcomes for the kula—relief, stability, and the ability to ‘rest’ (viśrāmyate)—rather than on mere biological descent.
Kulālambī uses the metaphor of an ‘ālamba’ (support/prop), presenting the family as a structure that can be upheld or destabilized. The passive verb viśrāmyate (“is able to rest/be relieved”) personifies the kula as a collective entity capable of strain and repose, a common rhetorical strategy in Sanskrit gnomic poetry to foreground social cohesion.